Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, sat until 02.30 last night due to extended discussions over the bill on whether or not to call for a constitutional parliament.
A constitutional parliament is a committee made up of members of the public which makes changes to the country’s constitution. Almost every Icelandic citizen over 18 years old is eligible to stand for election to the constitutional parliament – the only exceptions being current MPs and the President.
When the session was finally adjourned, there were still 13 MPs on the waiting list to speak – mostly from the Independence Party, mbl.is reports.
The session reconvened at 10.30 this morning and the Constitutional Parliament Bill is still the issue at the top of the agenda.
An interesting further look at what a Stjornlagathing (constitutional parliament) actually is can be found here. Please note, though, that the article is in Icelandic and written by a Progressive Party politician. Unfortunately there is not yet a Wikipedia article available to give a more neutral account.
For a small population, so much time and effort is spent on politics. I wonder how Iceland’s ratio of politicians-to-population compares with other countries. That may be nice when the economy is booming, but seems an expensive luxury during the kreppa. Need to reduce the unproductive proportion of the population and make them contribute: maybe all politicians should do some useful community work for one or two days a week…
I agree. Where I live has more people in it than all Iceland and most of it’s government officials have REAL jobs also. Not a perfect comparison but it makes you think a little more effort in governing the country well (and by that I mean thinking about issues logically), could help.
Don’t worry, The Texan.
They have a very real jobs – and we have kreppa because of that. :-(
Then I am truly sorry for y’all.:-( But I do think your idea of a direct internet democracy has some real merit. Maybe if y’all get rid of (or at least sow some mittens on their hands so they can’t harm themselves or others) Iceland could make some real progress. My only concern would be mob rule that it seems direct democracies always falls in to (and the totalitarian regimes that mob rule always falls into). Do you believe that could be dealt with?
The Texan.
So far Greece proved (in old days) that direct democracy worked well. As direct democracy is just a way to run the STATE while mob appears when the state is weak/fell.
Direct democracy was abandon for…let’s say “technical” reasons. But with current technologies it’s not a problem and in Icelandic case – 300,000 population (and much less voters) – it’s easy. Well, Easy might not agree with me – he has tons of excuses. And this itself is good example that we need it – the ability of every person to take part in decisions. Cause now both our opinions – his and mine are ignored by “professional” politicians.
And this constitutional parliament is just another decoy. What is the difference with existing system if someone – no matter how good, honest, experienced etc. – “represents” me again? How can anyone really represent me? Why should I delegate my life actually to some party or some “good guy”?
I’m sure that the poll would show very low “approval” rating for ANY party in Iceland if it has one extra condition – to count only those who agree 100% with the party “program”. Would any of them get even 5% then? ;-)
And to get this idea working we don’t need any changes of constitution nor laws nor anything. Jut get the server up and running. And then compare what people of Iceland really think and what their “representatives” think if good for people. It would be real fun. (and more effective than jumping on the square in front of “palaces”).
Well, Reykjavík City Hall is bigger than Alþingi Building, so there. Iceland is one huge bureaucracy festival and all the tax payers are NOT invited!